Judge: Ja Rule can't post pals' bail

A judge in New York says Ja Rule can't post bail for co-defendants in a gun possession case — and she wants the duo to come up with their own money.

State Supreme Court Justice Micki Scherer said Wednesday the rapper "put himself in the position of perhaps controlling the outcome of the case" by posting thousands of dollars in bail for the co-defendants.

"I think the potential for it is a big problem," Scherer said.

Ja Rule's lawyer said the defense will come up with separate bail packages for co-defendants Dennis Cherry and Mohamed Gamal.

Judge: Ja Rule can't post pals' bail

A judge in New York says Ja Rule can't post bail for co-defendants in a gun possession case — and she wants the duo to come up with their own money.

State Supreme Court Justice Micki Scherer said Wednesday the rapper "put himself in the position of perhaps controlling the outcome of the case" by posting thousands of dollars in bail for the co-defendants.

"I think the potential for it is a big problem," Scherer said.

Ja Rule's lawyer said the defense will come up with separate bail packages for co-defendants Dennis Cherry and Mohamed Gamal.

Bail Bondsman Makes Big Arrest

A Los Angeles attorney who is facing a spate of charges for a November 2006 crash that killed Kern County sheriff's deputy William "Joe" Hudnall Jr. was arrested by a bail bondsman Friday night in Glendale.

Sheriff's Cmdr. Kirk Foster did not know Saturday why Daniel Willsey was arrested. Willsey was booked into the downtown jail about 3 a.m. Saturday. The Glendale Police Department was not involved in Willsey's arrest, said Sgt. Tigran Topadzikyan.

Topadzikyan said the department received a courtesy call from a bondsman that Willsey was going to be arrested and taken back to Kern County.

Edward Kassabian of People's Bail Bonds in Van Nuys said one of his bondsmen arrested Willsey, but he declined to give more details, citing client confidentiality.

Willsey will next appear in court Wednesday morning, according to online court records.

He declined a jailhouse interview request Saturday afternoon.

Willsey faces charges that include gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, possession of a controlled substance and carrying a concealed firearm. His car collided with Hudnall's on Highway 178. Hudnall was driving a female prisoner from Kernville to Bakersfield. The accident knocked the Ford Bronco Hudnall was driving down an embankment, killing Hunall and injuring the woman. Neither person wore a seat belt.

Bail Bondsman Helps San Jose Authorities

A bails bondsman searching for a bailee helped police land two San Jose residents who allegedly operated an indoor pot farm, officers said today.

The bondsman - who police did not identify - on Tuesday night was trying to track down someone who skipped out on bail when he thought he spied marijuana plants growing inside a home where he believed the suspect once lived.

He called police at around 10:30 p.m. to report his find. When officers pulled up to the home on the 5300 block of Fraschini Circle, they said could smell marijuana from outside the house, officer Jermaine Thomas said.

They talked to the people in the home, who agreed to let officers search the place. Inside, investigators allegedly found more than 1,300 plants in different stages of growth nestled throughout the entire home, Thomas said.

Police arrested the man and woman in the home. They booked Toan Thi Phan, 49, of San Jose, and Long Giang La, 52, of San Jose, into Santa Clara County Jail on suspicion of growing marijuana, Thomas said.

The person who skipped out on the bail bond wasn't inside in the house.

Critics Slam Low-Cost Maryland Bonds

People charged with crimes generally can get out of jail by paying a bondsman 10 percent of the bail set by the courts. But many in Maryland are walking free by paying much less - in some cases as little as 1 percent - to bondsmen willing to offer a discount.

These cut-rate bails are a common practice, leading to thousands of people accused of serious offenses going free on far less bail than some judges and the public realize. State regulators and city prosecutors say they are troubled, but bondsmen argue that such price reductions are necessary to remain competitive in a cutthroat industry.

It is legal as long as the bondsmen have the accused or their friends or family sign promissory notes agreeing to pay the full 10 percent fee and the bondsmen make "good- faith efforts" to collect the money. Some don't, and the Maryland Insurance Administration, which regulates the bail industry, has fined five bondsmen for it since 2003.

Baltimore State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy said bail bondsmen are making "a mockery" of the system.

"Somebody gets a big bail, $500,000, and gets out for 1 percent," she said. "If that doesn't defeat the purpose, I don't know what does. ... The whole system needs to be reformed."

Del. Robert A. Costa, an Anne Arundel County Republican, wants the law changed to make it a misdemeanor for bail bondsmen to fail to collect the full 10 percent fee upfront. This, he argues, would end a dangerous practice that undermines judges and puts the public at risk by making it easier for suspected criminals to get out of jail.

He said he sought the change after his ex-wife's brother paid a bail bondsman 1 percent to get out of jail and then fled to Florida. The man is wanted in Anne Arundel County.

The bail bond industry "was very angry that I was introducing the bill," Costa said. They said, "How dare I interfere with their business. It's their choice if they want to do this or not. And I said, 'Not if it's putting defendants back on street to continue to commit crime.'"

Costa withdrew the bill this month, saying that he did not have enough research to win a battle against the lobby. He said he plans to try again next year after gathering more information.

One person who took advantage of the discounted bails was Brian Compton. A Baltimore County judge set his bail on an armed robbery charge at $75,000. Compton hired Big Boyz Bail Bonds.

On paper, the company charged Compton 10 percent of the bail - $7,500 - to free him. That rate, which is set by the insurance company contracted with Big Boyz and enforced by the state, cannot be changed by individual bondsmen.

But Compton did not pay anywhere near 10 percent. He and his family handed Big Boyz $750 and signed promissory notes for the difference. Court records show that Compton walked out of the county detention center two days after his arrest.

Court records also show that Compton, 25, his stepmother and father owe Big Boyz the $6,380 remaining on the promissory notes, plus $1,276 in attorney fees and $120 in court costs. Collecting that money is often difficult because friends and relatives of suspects co-sign the promissory notes but expect the suspect to pay the rest of the bill once freed.

"We told the bondsman we were not going to be responsible, but obviously we didn't read the paper," said Compton's stepmother, May Rorie of Baltimore. "We signed our name on something without reading everything in small print. ... I don't see why we have to be in charge of paying the bill. Brian [Compton] should be paying the bill."

Bail bonds are a big business in Maryland. Court records show there are more than 1,000 bondsmen in the state. In 2001, according to Douglas Colbert, a law professor at the University of Maryland, the industry took in an estimated $100 million to $150 million.

Bail bondsmen complain that the 10 percent minimum fee, which is set by their insurance underwriters, is a hardship for many clients.

"If your brother was locked up on a $10,000 bail, and you could pay $300 or $1,000, which one would you do?" said Barry Udoff, president of the Maryland Bail Bonds Association, who also runs the day-to-day operations of Fred W. Frank Bail Bonds in Baltimore.

"Requiring us to collect the 10 percent fee upfront would cause companies like ours to go out and open a premium finance company," Udoff said. "You'd go next door, borrow the money, walk back into the bail bonds office and pay the full fee. Not only the full fee, but interest on it, like a car loan. We'd make more money if that happened."

Sonya Rogers is handing over $75 per week to pay off a promissory note on a $150,000 bail to Big Boyz. She was arrested in August on drug distribution charges and said court officials are setting bails that are not "fair and reasonable," which is driving the industry to offer discounts.

"If a bail bondsman isn't getting the full 10 percent, that's his business and it's how he eats," said Rogers, 23, who lives in Southeast Baltimore. "If he decides to take less money, who is he hurting? I thought people were innocent until proven guilty."

The authority for bondsmen to free people, such as Rogers, on credit comes from a 1997 ruling by the Maryland Court of Appeals. According to the insurance administration, the decision left the state with rules that are difficult to enforce.

Simply not collecting the full 10 percent fee isn't enough to violate the law. The state has to prove that a bondsman hasn't tried to collect it, which is difficult, said Todd Cioni, associate insurance commissioner for compliance and enforcement.

Cioni said a bail bondsman could cut a deal for a 5 percent fee and then warn the defendant that he would receive a few meaningless letters demanding the remaining 5 percent, which the defendant could ignore. The letters are sent only to deceive regulators, Cioni said.

"There's no strict criteria; it's not like a Visa card," he said. "Some of these folks don't promise to pay 'X' amount on the 15th of every month. And when we ask, 'When does the defendant have to pay?' They say, 'When the defendant has the money.'"

Cioni's staff has the power to walk into any bail bonds office and order bondsmen to open their files. But Cioni has only one employee assigned to regulate the industry across the state.

Dog’s TV Show to Resume

TV bounty hunter Duane "Dog" Chapman is preparing a return to the airwaves.

The Chapman family confirmed Thursday that filming is set to resume on the A&E show "Dog the Bounty Hunter." The show features Chapman and crew in pursuit of bail jumpers in Hawaii and other states.

It was the highest rated show on A&E before the network pulled it off the air in November. Chapman was heard in a taped phone conversation using a racial slur in reference to his son's black girlfriend.

Chapman has apologized and tried to make amends with the network and the black community.

Network officials says that since the show is about second chances, they decided to accept his apology and resume production. No air date has been announced.

Trinidad and Tobago Call for Bounty Hunters

Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday says the time is right to introduce bounty hunters and establish watch groups in all communities to battle surging crime in the country. He also says the Opposition will help organize the people if the police cannot protect citizens.

Although his idea of bounty hunters was discarded some years ago, Panday believes the time is now right to reintroduce it in the hope that it will stem the increase in criminal activities.

Speaking at the UNC-A's weekly Monday Night Forum at the Orange Valley Community Facility, Panday said if the police cannot protect the citizens, then "we will have no alternative but to organise people to protect themselves".

He said villagers should devise a system to "observe strangers, mark them, take photos, follow them if necessary and notify others in the neighbourhood".

He referred to similar groups established by Tabaquite Member of Parliament Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj in his constituency.

Panday said villagers should "be able to close all roads, so that the criminals cannot run out".

He urged them to "do this in every village".

Panday, along with other UNC-A officials, met with Police Commissioner Trevor Paul and other senior officers recently to discuss the upsurge in crime.

On the issue of refusal by police to give some businessmen firearms to protect themselves, Panday said the police officials spoke about an appeal process for such a license.

He suggested that if anyone's application was refused, "you should tell us and we would raise it in Parliament and we shall bring judicial proceedings against the Commissioner in the courts if necessary". (PDM)

Dog Chapman to Bring His Message to Teens

The star of the television show "Dog the Bounty Hunter" plans to visit Mooseheart this spring to talk about his life and his faith.

Duane "Dog" Chapman will host a pair of Christian music concerts at the school's field house April 11 and 12.

"He's got some affinity for what this place is and what it does," said Mooseheart spokesman Darryl Mellema.

Chapman is scheduled to speak for 45 minutes before The Rush Tour concerts each night.

Bands include Echoing Angels, Emery, Inhabited, Flatfoot 56 and Will Duvall.

Students from Mooseheart will attend the April 11 concert.

Although Chapman, a born-again Christian who spent time in prison for armed robberies and as an accessory to murder, might seem like an unusual choice to talk to kids, Mellema said it's what some students from troubled backgrounds might need.

"He may be able to engage the kids in some way that someone from a squeaky-clean background can't," he said. "Most of them have had some ups and downs, and it can help to see someone who has had ups and downs and still has their faith."

For Shore Bail Bond Agent, Every Day is a Challenge

FREEHOLD — As a bail bond agent for the past six years, Main Street Bail Bonds owner Nick Stroboulis has seen it all.

There was the guy who hid in a wall to escape Stroboulis, for example.

Stroboulis and his bondsman, Patrick Lawlor, were searching for a defendant who had jumped bail. He was a big guy, about 6 feet 2 inches tall and 240 pounds, Lawlor remembered.

"We about walked out of the building," Lawlor said recently at the firm's West Main Street office, remembering the case.

"We'd searched the building three times," Stroboulis added.

"Something made him (Stroboulis) think to move the laundry," Lawlor continued.

And lo and behold, there was a hole in the wall neither of the men suspected was there. And inside the hole was the man they were looking for.

"He (Stroboulis) is tenacious," Lawlor laughed.

An airline investigator for many years, Stroboulis — a well-dressed man with a "Scarface" lamp and poster in his office — says he meant to work part-time as a bail bondsman, but "fell into" a full-time business putting up bonds for criminal defendants eager to be sprung from jail while awaiting trial. He hired Ana "The Mac" Rivera, an energetic, tough-talking woman who can juggle four phone calls at a time, as his manager. He also enlisted Lawlor, a long-time friend and insurance agent, to help him run his business.

Stroboulis employs part-time bail bond agents and bounty hunters as needed, he said.

Licensed through the state Deparment of Banking and Insurance, Stroboulis posts bonds for 400 to 500 people annually, he estimates. Of those defendants, 98 percent make all their court appearances.

That rate is key for Stroboulis, who makes his money by ensuring clients show up for court.

Clients pay him a fee worth 10 percent of their bail amount. In return, Stroboulis puts up a bond guaranteeing the full amount of their bail.

If clients make all their court appearances and the case is resolved, Stroboulis' bond is discharged, he said.

Stroboulis requires clients to check in every week until their cases end, and he or one of his employees will call clients if they fail to do so.

"The first time I'm nice," Lawlor said. But keep forgetting, and Lawlor's tough side will come out.

Most clients aren't avoiding the bond agents; generally, they are just busy and forget to call, Lawlor said.

But there are those few defendants who try to skip out on their criminal cases — and on Stroboulis.

When tracking down recalcitrant clients, Stroboulis often starts with the bail co-signers, Stroboulis said. He also will question neighbors, friends, family — anyone who might know the defendant's whereabouts. At times, Stroboulis' search leads him out of state to places such as Florida.

Clients may not be easily found — one man has eluded Stroboulis for more than a month now — but Lawlor boasts of Stroboulis' abilities to pin them down.

"We're like the (New York) Giants," Lawlor laughed. "Don't count us out."

The bounty hunting part of the business may get the most attention, but Stroboulis and his employees say that is it just one facet of the job.

"We're counselors, we're doctors, we're anything you want," Stroboulis said.

Some clients ask them for legal advice, but Lawlor says he always refers them to their lawyers for answers.

The job can cause headaches on a daily basis, and it can cause heartache as well, Stroboulis said.

Listening to wives or girlfriends who want to bail out men arrested for beating them can be particularly difficult. And there are those generally good people who just did something wrong.

"There's people that just rip your heart out," Stroboulis said.

Clarksville Woman Has Home Broken Into – Legally

Ashley Gholston had just put her 4-year-old daughter to bed when she noticed red laser dots appear in her darkly lit home on Daniel Street.

Flashlight beams shone through her daughter's window, and she heard pounding at her door and voices telling her to open it.

Gholston, 21, said her first instinct was to grab her daughter.

Her boyfriend, John Bradley, 24, jumped out a back window and ran.

Moments later, four bounty hunters stormed through her front window and ran through the house, chasing Bradley, she said.

When they couldn't catch him, they came back in the house and approached Gholston.

"I was shaking," she said. "My daughter was crying the whole time."

Gholston said she thought one of the men pointed a gun at her, but she later discovered it was a taser.

He told her she could go to jail for housing a fugitive.

The men were bounty hunters, and until then, Gholston didn't realize her boyfriend was on the run from them.

When police arrived, Gholston said she learned Bradley owed on a $5,000 bond from Clarksville Bonding Co. in a case that stemmed from a June 2006 drug-related charge, according to court documents.

Hannah Christy, co-owner of Clarksville Bonding, said they have been looking for Bradley for a few months, and he has told them he would turn himself in.

Gholston said after talking to police she found out she had no rights to press charges against the Clarksville Bonding or the bounty hunters they hired for breaking into her home.

If she had known Bradley was wanted and was there, she could have been arrested for harboring a fugitive, police told her.

In fact, Gholston said she's certain they will come back looking for him.

"I'm going to just open up the door the next time they come looking for him and let them search the house," she said. "They said they are going to keep on doing it. ... They can't say I'm harboring a fugitive.
How it works

Someone can be classified a bond jumper if he fails to notify the bonding company that he moved, if he misses a court date without any notification or if he fails to pay his bond fees, Christy said.

Bonding companies are then told by the courts that the person has a warrant out for his arrest, and bond companies have the right to hire bounty hunters to search for the bond jumper.

Christy said a bounty hunter must see the bond jumper go into a house before they go in the house after him.

Jeff Moorhead, lead bail enforcement agent at Bail Busters, another local bail bonding company, said that under Supreme Court law precedent in Taylor vs. Taintor (1872), bondsmen or bounty hunters have the right to seek out and arrest a person owing them money.

Moorhead said when a person is initially arrested and comes to a bail bonding company, the company can charge 10 percent of the bond plus $37.

After that, paperwork is filed with information including numerous phone numbers, addresses, family member names and employment and a co-signer guaranteeing the person charged will make his court appearance.

If the person charged does not appear in court, a warrant is issued for his arrest and the bail bonding company must act quickly, Moorhead said.

"We have 180 days to find that person and surrender them back to jail, or we forfeit the total cost of the bond to the court," he said.

Many bail bonding companies hire bounty hunters, or help to search out the fugitive, Moorhead said.

There are certain rules when it comes to seeking a bond jumper.

"You can't just go kick in the door," Moorhead said. "You got to make sure the person's there ... you have to act in good faith."
Working it out

In Gholston's case, Moorhead said the bounty hunters weren't in the wrong.

Even Gholston said she noticed a car sitting outside near her house. The bounty hunters were making sure Bradley was inside.

"If he was there, they can kick in the door," Moorhead said.

Moorhead said anyone owing bond can set up a payment arrangement to avoid being surrendered back to the jail.

"The bondsmen are trying to help you out," Moorhead said about those whose bail they pay.

"It's not all about the money to us — we want to help people. I always believe in the good in people. If you make an agreement, pay your bondsmen because they are trying to help you out."

Christy said she hopes the bounty hunters find Bradley or she will be out $5,000.

If he turns himself in, Christy said, it will be better for everybody.

"As long as he turns himself in, I'm glad," Christy said. "I don't want to be looking for him, and I know he doesn't want to be looking over his shoulder all the time."

Bounty Hunter Runs Self-Defense Classes

The chilling audiotape captured a frantic woman shakily reporting an intruder to police, then dropping the phone and screaming as the man raped her. “It’s pretty powerful,” said Bill Nelson. “It’s a pretty harsh and powerful thing because it’s real.”

Nelson plays the 911 call to people who attend his sexual assault seminars to start the discussion about rape.

It got a lot of people talking at his three-hour seminar Saturday at Suburban Health Club in St. Cloud, including organizer Susan Barber of St. Joseph.

A lecture about rape isn’t usually a family affair. But for Barber it was.

Five family members, including her husband, attended Nelson’s lecture about the interconnected topics of sexual assault, from gender roles and sexism to basic self-defense strategies.

“I think more men should see it,” said Barber’s husband, Jake. “A lot of these things shock me. There are a lot of pigs.”

He was one of three men in Saturday’s group of 16 people.

Nelson said he hopes he can just create awareness for those who attend his workshops.

“This affects everyone — this issue,” he said. “There’s a lot of people hurting because of this.”

Trust instincts

The ponytailed bounty hunter, private investigator and martial arts instructor wrote a book, “Your Weapon Within: How to Lower the Risk of Sexual Assault” and travels the country to discuss rape.

His main message is that people need to rely on their instincts to protect themselves.

“A lot of people put a false sense of security on (products such as pepper spray),” Nelson said. “It’s not the save-all. You still need a Plan A, B, C.”

In context

While he discussed basic self-defense, Nelson’s lesson wasn’t just on how people can protect themselves, but how people can understand rape in context of the culture.

Nelson discussed the excuses men and women make to explain rape and the stereotypes applied to rapists and rape victims. Basically, he said, you can’t pick a rapist or a rape victim out of a crowd.

“They aren’t going to act or dress any different than us,” he said of rapists. “They just express their rage different. Sexual assault is about power and control.”

Another myth is that women falsely accuse men.

But, he said, that only happens in one to 3 percent of all cases.

Nevertheless, that attitude contributes to fear of reporting rapes that do happen.

That, in turn, is one reason why rape is the most underreported crime in the country, he said.

According to the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network, more than half of sexual assaults are unreported.

The group also says one in six women are victims of sexual assault.

“There still is a (sexist) undertone of how we raise boys and girls,” Nelson said, citing gender roles ingrained from the moment children leave the hospital with a pink or blue outfit.

The broader culture’s obsession with sex — from strip clubs and pornography to the prevalence of hooking up just for sex — promotes situations that increase the likelihood of rape.

But, Nelson said, it isn’t random dates or strangers who are often the ones to rape.

In fact, a study showed that 91 percent of Central Minnesota rape victims knew their attacker, he said.

That statistic surprised Barber’s sister Deb Holman of Bemidji because most women fear attacks by strangers, she said.

“Women think of that every single day in every kind of situation,” she said. “Men don’t think about that.”

Nelson’s information got her and other family members buzzing, including 15-year-old April Daerda.

“It’s a good thing to hear,” Daerda said.

Nelson said challenging society’s gender roles is a first step.

“I’m not going to change the world,” he said.

“But all I need is one person to say I’m going to ... stop reading those (pornographic) magazines. If we continue to talk like that, act like that ... we’re going to continue to have a problem with (sexual assault).”

Bail Bondsmen Find New Orleans Felon

Two bail bondsmen from New Orleans flew to Montana Wednesday and arrested a fugitive who had been a roofer and construction worker in Great Falls since last September.

Michael Woods, who went by the name Cody Warren in Great Falls, is facing drug and home burglary charges in New Orleans, according to the National Crime Information Center.

He was free on a $60,000 bond when he left New Orleans, according to Shane Chedville, owner of a bail bonding company in suburban Gretna.

"He's definitely in Great Falls," Chedville said Wednesday morning. "I've talked to a guy he did construction work for, and I talked to a lady who had him on her roof as recently as last Saturday."

There was a $5,000 reward for Woods' capture.

"I've told him I'm willing to hire him an attorney and pay him the reward if he just does the right thing and turns himself in," Chedville said. "Because if I don't catch him by Feb. 16, I'm going to be out $30,000."

However, Chedville got a tip later Wednesday morning saying Woods was being hidden in a specific Great Falls residence.

"We searched the place, found him hiding in a hidden basement, dragged him out, handcuffed him and ran him out to the airport in order to catch our flight out of town," Chedville said in a phone interview from the Salt Lake City airport.

"As soon as he saw me, he said he was real sorry," Chedville added.

Utah Bounty Hunter is Busy Mom

When you hear the words, “Bounty Hunter,” you might think of vigilantes who operate just below the legal radar to hunt down bad guys. But just how legal is their job in Utah? We take a look at one woman who is cleaning up the streets of the Salt Lake Valley.

Reata Holt is the leader of the bounty hunting team in Utah known as Fox Force. She is a long-haired brunette and mother of seven who has been chasing after criminals for more than 20 years.

Threatened, assaulted and shot at, Reata has devoted her life to catching criminals. Every night begins with a quick look at her files and as soon as she gets her list of warrants; the game is on.

“I don’t look dangerous, so that’s an advantage for me,” says Reata. She says that she can keep a low-key appearance when criminals see her.

“The last thing they’re thinking is that Bounty Hunters are here.”

Bounty Hunters execute warrants on alleged criminals who post bail, but fail to show up in court. They are completely legal, if they do their job correctly.

Each Bounty Hunter has been trained, licensed by the state and registered to carry a gun.

“Things can get pretty violent,” says fellow Bounty Hunter and Fox Force team member, Dave Hendricks. “You never know what you’re walking into.”

Legally speaking, Reata and company are well within their right to break into a home and take someone off to jail. Their only catch is that they have to be absolutely certain that the person that they are looking for is inside the home.

Upon catching a criminal, Fox Force will then turn them into the local authorities in exchange for a few thousand dollars. It’s not your typical evening, but the team wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I’m sure any one of us would take a bullet for the other,” say Bounty Hunter Mark Swensen.

Police generally do not like Bounty Hunters because they say that Bounty Hunters are typical citizens doing police-like work. Some of them argue that Bounty Hunters aren’t trained the way police are.

But the numbers show that Bounty Hunters have a significant impact in the United States. Bounty Hunters catch more than 30,000 bail jumpers per year. That is about 90% of people who jump bail.

“I know this is what I was,” says Reata. “This is what I’m good at. I don’t want to do anything else.”